This is what it looks like after
grinding the end to fit the cowl. Do you see anything wrong here?
Yeah....you guessed it....another problem. Notice the gap that has been
created in the cut-out. That shouldn't be there because this has made
the end of the rail very weak. I'll have to come up with a way to fix it or buy new
ones. Now which way do you think I went with?
|
|
|
Here is what I did to fix my problem.
I welded in a piece of steel to bridge across the gap which adds a large
amount of strength. I overlapped the new piece by 1" on the inside
and 2" on the other side. The only thing wrong now is that the rear
aluminum mounting block that you see next to it won't fit inside the cut-out. I
guess I'll have to do some more fitting.
|
|
|
After sanding away some material, it
fits nicely now. I had to be careful not to remove to much material or I
would have a larger than normal gap between the two pieces and this
shows when the hood is open. If you notice, I also added a stud to the
back side of the rail. I cut the head off a 5/16 bolt and welded it to a
small scrap piece of left-over rail. Then I welded that assembly to the
back side of the rail. This will fasten to the inside of the cowl with a
nut and washer.
|
|
|
To fasten the front of the rail, the
kit came with four of these nut plates that have been tapped with 1/4-20
threads. I measured how far from the edge it had to be and tacked it in
place. After making sure it was in the proper position, I fully welded
it.
|
|
|
|
1 2
3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10
11 12
13 14
15 16
17 18
19 20
21
22
23 24
25 26
27 28 |
|
29 30 31
32 33
34 35 |
